If you want to learn how to become a freelance graphic designer who actually stays in business instead of going back to your day job then follow the absolute most important task
1. Brand yourself and name your business
First up, is to think through how your brand will look like. This is important to tackle fairly early on because, for most freelance graphic designers, word of mouth proves extremely important.
Many freelancers debate whether you should use your own name or a business name.
If your goal in becoming a freelance graphic designer is to stay a one-person business forever, then use your own name as the company name.
But if you ever want to grow your freelance business to be bigger than just you, you may want to consider coming up with a name for your business.
2. Build a portfolio
The first thing a firm or any company out there will ask for is your portfolio and your CV.
Will you tell them youre yet to come up with one?
To avoid this and master how to become a freelance graphic designer who actually gets clients and grows their business, heres my advice:
Build a minimum viable freelance portfolio.
What do I mean by minimum viable?
Its a phrase stolen from tech startup world that essentially means you answer the question
whats the least I can do to prove my hypothesis and satisfy my customer?
If you're serious about learning how to become a freelance graphic designer, you should build a small (maybe even just a three-page) portfolio that highlights only your best work and encourages visitors to hire you.
3. Find your Clients
Why?
If you dont have clients, you dont have a business.
And if you dont have a business, you havent become a freelance graphic designer.
You're just a hobbyist.
Getting your first freelance graphic design clients will give you confidence, momentum, and traction from which you can become a freelance designer more quickly.
There are a number of ways a freelance graphic designer can find their first clients, but after over a decade of working with designers on a regular basis, here are my two quickest (and most effective ways) a freelance designer can find clients:
Search for easy-to-get jobs on freelance job sites
There are hundreds of freelance job sites out there where you can find freelance design work. The best two I know about and can refer you to is Fiverr and Upwork there are alots of jobs you can get on this platforms Fiverr will offer some low-pay quick wins (although not a great long-term strategy) and marketplaces like Upwork add in a bit more stability.
4. Over-deliver for your first clients
The next critical step on your journey to learn how to become a freelance graphic designer is to make your current clients very happy.
It doesnt matter if you found your first clients through your personal network or through freelancing websites, in either case each client represents an opportunity for more work.
How? Freelance graphic designers who over-deliver on their promises with design clients:
Get more repeat design work
If you do a good job the first time (more than good, really) your client is far more likely to hire you a second time. You might even be able to convert your one-time client into regular, recurring revenue.
Get designclient referrals
Over-delivering for one client doesnt just impact the amount of freelance graphic design work you receive from that one client, but also impacts the likelihood of getting referrals from that client in the future.
5. Master proposals, invoicing, and paperwork
Learning how to become a freelance graphic designer isnt just about getting clients and doing the creative work, though.
As a freelance designer, youll also need to run your design business.
That means learning how to write an invoice, sending proposals to your clients, working with contracts at times, and lots more.
While you can do the bare minimum (Google Docs or similar) when first getting started, I recommend quickly finding some sort of freelancer invoicing software you can use to make your life easier.
6. Always be finding new clients
Its such a common concern for freelance designers.
Essentially its the challenge of having plenty of work this month, and not nearly enough work next month.
And it happens far too often to people striving to learn how to become a freelance graphic designerand make it stick.
How can you not fall trap to the feast-famine cycle of freelance design?
Always be finding new clients.
No matter how much extra work you have to do; no matter how many client projects you currently have; no matter how swamped you feel; always make time to find new clients.
Dedicate a certain number of hours each week to client outreach activities such as cold-emailing, networking or using any social platform in advertising yourself.
Of course, if youre totally swamped, I recommend you automate your client-finding activities by signing up for free services like Google Alerts or paying a small fee for services like SolidGigs.
7. Get referrals every chance you have
Some freelance graphic designers get most of their business through word-of-mouth marketing.
No expensive ad campaigns.
No constant cold-outreach.
No pestering local businesses at a meet-and-greet.
But getting automatic word-of-mouth promotion can be difficult early on in your journey learning how to become a freelance graphic designer.
Which means youll have to build it in.
Start by asking for referrals from your existing clients.
Every time you have an especially positive interaction with a client, ask them if they know anyone else that might benefit from hiring a freelance graphic designer.
Each time you deliver a project on time (and over-deliver too, remember?) is an ideal time to ask if they have any friends, acquaintances, coworkers, or colleagues who might want to work with you.
If you need some extra help, this referral-getting email script may come in handy.
After you do enough quality work for enough people, the referrals will become a bit more organic. But until then, its up to you to make it happen.
Youre on your way to becoming a freelance graphic designer
Thats all Ive got for you! But its my absolute best, most sincere!!
It wont happen overnight. It wont be easier than staying at your day job.
But if you want to become a freelance designer, you can do it.
And hopefully this will really help you alot
